Travel Weekly is proud to present the winners of our 15th annual Readers Choice Awards.
The awards are presented to the industry's suppliers who led the way in product and service during the past year.
The winners, one for each of 77 categories, represent the best of the best of the travel industry, in the airline, car, hospitality, rail, GDS, agent education, tour, cruise, destination and theme park sectors.
The 2017 awards were presented Dec. 14 during a black-tie gala dinner and ceremony at the Conrad New York.
In addition, Travel Weekly honored Dan Sullivan, president and CEO of Collette, with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The nominees and award recipients were chosen in two rounds of voting by Travel Weekly's readers.
The open ballot phase of the voting was conducted during the summer. Readers were invited to write in the names of any company they believed best exemplified that particular category. The leading vote recipients were identified as finalists, and voting on finalists took place through November 2017.
Delta continued its winning streak in three categories: Domestic (its seventh consecutive win), Sales & Service (two years in a row) and Overall (its fourth win in that category). United won for Global Network and Virgin Atlantic won for International, as they did in 2016, and Emirates won for Business/First Class, the Dubai-based carrier's sixth win in that category.
View all airline finalists.
It was Hertz's year: The company not only scored its 15th consecutive Readers Choice Award for International, but it also reclaimed the prize for Domestic (Enterprise had broken its 12-year winning streak in that category for 2016).
View all car rental finalists.
As it did in 2016, Royal Caribbean International took home five awards: Overall wins in the Individual Cruise Ship and Cruise Line categories as well as wins for its Caribbean itineraries, Sales & Service and Entertainment.
Sister line Celebrity repeated its trio of wins from 2016 in the categories of Europe, Premium and Cruise Ship: Premium (for the Celebrity Reflection).
Princess Cruises continued its Alaska winning streak with a 14th victory in that category and added New Cruise Ship honors (for the Majestic Princess).
Carnival Cruise Line repeated its win in the Domestic category, as did Norwegian Cruise Line for Hawaii/Pacific. Norwegian scored a second victory, for Family Experience, an accolade previously bestowed upon Disney. As it did the previous year, Seabourn took the honors in the Under 1,000 Berths category.
Holland America Line repeated its pair of wins, for World Cruise Itinerary and for Half Moon Cay in the Private Island/Destination category, while Oceania Cruises scored its second Readers Choice Award for Cuisine.
In the category of Cruise Ship: Luxury, Regent Seven Seas Cruises took the honors for its Seven Seas Explorer, breaking Cunard Line's 13-win streak for the Queen Mary 2. Crystal Cruises once again took the honors for Cruise Line: Luxury.
Among river cruise lines, Viking repeated its wins in the River Cruising and River Cruise Sales & Service categories, while readers picked AmaWaterways' AmaKristina as the top river cruise ship.
View all cruise line finalists and cruise ship finalists.
The Aloha State once again was victorious in the category of U.S. State, its 14th consecutive win. And among Hawaii's islands, Maui, too, scored its 14th consecutive victory. Back on the mainland, Las Vegas nabbed its 13th Readers Choice Award for U.S. City.
South of the border, the Riviera Maya won its 14th consecutive Readers Choice Award for Mexico. Meanwhile, up north, Vancouver repeated its Canada win.
Aruba took the top spot for the Caribbean, while Costa Rica won its 13th consecutive award in Central/South America.
Ireland won for Europe for the fourth consecutive year, while South Africa and Australia repeated their 2016 wins in the Africa and Asia/Pacific categories.
View finalists in the Hawaiian Islands, U.S. city, U.S. state, Mexico, Canada, Caribbean, Central/South America, Europe, Africa and Asia/Pacific categories.
Sabre, the oldest of the major GDSs and the leading U.S. system by market share, was this category's winner for the ninth consecutive year.
View all GDS finalists.
Marriott International scored its 14th consecutive win in the Domestic category. As it did in 2016, Marriott also won for Overall Hotel Group (its fourth consecutive win in that category) and Sales & Service. It also scored in the Hawaii/South Pacific category, and its W Hotels Worldwide brand got the nod in the Boutique category.
Meanwhile, InterContinental Hotels Group took the honors for Asia, while Sandals continued to dominate the Caribbean and All-Inclusive categories with its 15th and 12th victories, respectively.
Hyatt/Playa Resorts repeated its Mexico win, while Hilton took home a pair of Readers Choice Awards, in the Europe and Upscale categories. Hilton's Hampton Inn brand continued its reign in the Midpriced category with a 10th consecutive win.
Further up the chain scale, Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts took the honors for Luxury for the seventh year in row.
View all hotel finalists.
In this category's second year, Allianz Global Assistance again emerged victorious from a field of five competitors. Allianz Global Assistance provides insurance to 21 million customers annually.
View all insurance provider finalists.
Rocky Mountaineer continued to build Readers Choice momentum with its ninth straight win in this category. The company offers vacation packages on rail routes throughout British Columbia, Alberta and the Canadian Rockies.
View all rail vacation finalists.
The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay broke a nine-win streak by the St. Regis Bora Bora to take the honors in this category. The 261-room San Francisco property features two golf courses, including the only coastal golf course in the Bay Area.
View all resorts worldwide finalists.
Walt Disney World remained undefeated in this category with its 15th consecutive victory.
View all theme park finalists.
In a repeat of 2016, Delta Vacations racked up wins in the Domestic Packaged and Packaged Overall categories, and Trafalgar Tours was once again victorious for Domestic Escorted and International. Gogo Vacations got the nod for the Group Packaged category.
In the Packaged Sales & Service category, Travel Impressions scored its third victory. Globus repeated its wins in the Escorted Sales & Service and Europe categories, while Tauck got the nod for Asia/Pacific and Escorted Overall.
In other regional categories, Apple Vacations won for the Caribbean but ceded Mexico honors to Funjet Vacations. Pleasant Holidays was tapped for Hawaii, its 14th win in a row for that category. Abercrombie & Kent won in the Africa and Luxury categories for the 13th time, and Collette won for Canada.
Adventures by Disney continued its reign in Adventure, racking up its third win in that category.
View all tour operator finalists.
Readers gave the nod to Carnival's Passport, which uses tutorials, videos, webinars, virtual games and crossword puzzles and awards agents credits applied toward one of six passport stamps, a measure of how much training an agent has completed.
View all travel agent educational program finalists.
Norwegian Cruise Line once again beat out a field of resort and hotel operators, tour operators and other cruise lines for this win. Agents who become Norwegian Specialists automatically qualify for a free cruise for two.
View all travel agent loyalty program finalists.